Wearing No. 29, batting lefthanded, tall guy with some power–it’s not Ike Davis (or Dave Magadan). It’s Jared Young! A journeyman slugger from Canada, Young suddenly appeared as the regular DH one day and hasn’t stopped playing since (at least against right handers). I will give earwitness testimony that his home run in Citi Field on Tuesday was the loudest shot in an inning full of loud shots. He hits the ball hard.
It’d be foolish to think Young is a sudden everyday big leaguer after a nine-year career with parts of all of them in minors (save for one season in Korea) but he’s the first real upside surprise of 2025, at least on the offensive side, and that’s a good thing when your team is dragging around Francisco Alvarez and Mark Vientos. He really reminds me a bit of MBTN favorite Kelvin Torve, also a lefty minor-league vet who got off to a hot start in Queens.
Elsewhere on the transaction front we’ve seen a shuffling of back-end relief workers. At the moment, Chris Devenski (49) is back up with the Mets and Brandon Waddell (82) is down. Waddell got smacked around by the White Sox the other day but leaves the Mets with a lone lefty in the bullpen. Genesis Cabrera (92) and Jose Azocar (28), cashiered for Waddell and Young, respectively, refused to participate in another go-round in Syracuse and found themselves new employers. Cabrera signed with the Cubs and Azocar is with the Braves.
The next big shakeup for the Mets could come when the pitchers start returning from the disabled list. Paul Blackburn is expected today.
Instead there’s Max Kranick, who if you asked me seemed to a suspect for previous Mets experience but in fact never arrived last year despite all the Sulsers, Jays and Adcocks they ran through here. Kranick wears 32.
I think the word that best describes my mindset about this team is “curious.” It’s not necessarily excited or dreading. I mean they have to go out there and perform and hopefully they are ready, even if they didn’t look like it when I checked in last. It would be interesting had David Stearns communicated his gameplan on Signal with a journalist eavesdropping. But we have to take starting Clay Holmes on Opening Day as a solid move on faith.
The other night it was Huascar Brazoban making his Mets debut, wearing R.A. Dickey’s former 43. Tyler Zuber has been assigned No. 54 but is still in the minors.
One way the Mets made room for the new guys was cashing out Jake Diekman and Adrian Houser, trading Josh Walker to Pittsburgh and Cole Sulser to Tampa Bay and releasing Ty Adcock. Will Adam Ottavino survive the pending return of Sean Reid-Foley and Reed Garrett?